10bet operator Blue Star Planet has agreed a £620,000 settlement with Britain’s Gambling Commission.
The payment in lieu of a financial penalty relates to shortcomings in the company’s anti-money laundering and responsible gambling policies between November 2019 and June 2021.
A compliance assessment by the Gambling Commission found that the company failed in its implementation of anti-money laundering (AML) policies, procedures and controls. It also found deficiencies in responsible gambling policies, procedures, controls and practices, including weaknesses in implementation and reporting arrangements.
These included financial controls to limit customer deposits being set too high; AML alert levels being set too high; and players being allowed to continue to gamble after triggering an alert due to a lack of overnight staff to monitor alerts.
The company also failed to provide a link to the Gambling Commission website where customers could check the licensing status of the business.
In agreeing the settlement, Blue Star Planet acknowledged that it did not employ dedicated compliance staff to monitor safer gambling alerts overnight, which meant that some customers were permitted to hit several safer gambling triggers without risk assessments and interactions occurring in real time.
It also admitted that the financial risk alerts in place at the time of the assessment failed to give adequate consideration to average discretionary income data and failed to identify customers at the earliest opportunity, and that its safer gambling controls failed to prevent some customers from spending significant amounts of money over short periods of time without effective intervention.
The £620,000 payment will be directed towards socially responsible causes and the company will also pay Commission investigation costs of £3,571.25.